Footie Mob Unites Soccer Fans With Atlanta Music

Atlanta’s new MLS team plays Saturday before its seventh straight sold-out home crowd. Atlanta United hosts the Colorado Rapids Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the team's temporary home until Mercedes-Benz Stadium opens in August.

Although Atlanta United is only halfway through its inaugural season, the team already has four official fans clubs.

Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst

Credit www.atlutd.com

Footie Mob, named in reference to beloved Atlanta hip-hop group Goodie Mob, who coined the term "Dirty South" on their seminal 1995 album "Soul Food."

Footie Mob founders Curtis Jenkins and Stefan Kallweit joined Rickey Bevington in the studio to talk about why Atlanta music is a big part of their soccer fandom.

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Footie Mob is one of Atlanta United's official soccer fan clubs that incorporates Atlanta music into its original chants. Rickey Bevington sits down with Footie Mob founders Curtis Jenkins and Stefan Kallweit.

“It’s a play off of Goodie Mob. It’s amusing when people who aren’t from Atlanta – who don’t get the reference – email us or say something on our Facebook page. They’re like, ‘What is Footie Mob? Are you a proper mob?’" – Curtis Jenkins

“We wanted to be the kind of group that aren’t soccer snobs. We wanted to bring people who had no idea about soccer into the fold." – Stefan Kallweit

“We’re in the heart of SEC country. You have people who are used to chanting 'S-E-C.' Now we’re trying to expand that to longer chants that contain multiple words that aren’t just letters. And you expand from there to what might be considered the verse of a song.” – Curtis Jenkins

“Outkast’s 'Bombs Over Baghdad' was a no-brainer for us to do it as a chant. The real lyric is 'Power Music Electric Revival.’ And we just changed it to ‘Power Football Atlanta United.’” ~ Stefan Kallweit

The Southern dialect is a complex thing, especially when pouring out the mouths of three of the regions best rappers ever. From the marble-mouthed flow of trapper du jour Gucci Mane, to the elongated vowel sounds of the dearly departed Pimp C, to the sticky, multi-syllabic delivery of OutKast's most consistent player Big Boi, it comes in all drawls and colors.